Song of the Reds(Part 1)
by stickyicarus
Summary: The Earthborn origin retold! kid Shepard(Eezo) is a tattood thug with a sarcastic mouth. Shepard and two best friends struggle to deal with suffering. His unusual friends seem to be the only thing keeping him together. A little violence. ... Eezo spat blood. "I got a really big chip on my shoulder."
1. LOVE SUGAR

Eezo and Baby Spice sat in the back of the alley on Silver street with two foam food containers of spaghetti from Mama Amedea's Italian Restaurant. This was Eezo's favorite place to get food these days. It had the style of an Italian restaurant but none of the gravitas and fancifulness one would come to expect from one. You ordered food over the counter and if you were going to sit you were sitting outside, in the back.

Sitting outside worked fine because both Eezo and Baby Spice's appearances betrayed the fact that they were both hard gang members. Eezo had one sleeve of tattoos on his arm and a red star tattooed onto his left cheek. His hair was cut short and dyed red. He had light brown skin and looked like he could've been of several ethnicities. His ears were covered in piercings, and one ring pierced his lip. He wore a bright red hoodie with a star on it and some form fitting pants.

Baby Spice was a very tanned woman of Asian descent. She was covered in tattoos from her neck to her legs and the limbless jumpsuit she wore revealed this very clearly. Her hair was bleached blonde and one streak was dyed pink over the blonde. It was long and went down to her back.

They opened their containers and began eating. As Eezo twirled a large bundle of spaghetti around his plastic fork, Baby Spice grabbed a fistful of spaghetti and ate it out of her hand. Eezo gasped and dropped his fork in surprise.

"Baby Spice!" he said derisively.

"Wha?" Baby Spice spoke through a mouthful of food.

" _What are you doing_?"

"I'm eating…" Baby Spice explained.

"No. Why are you eating with your hands." Eezo said.

"Uh,It's better."

"It's better?" Eezo asked dumbly.

"Yeah, 'cause…you get spaghetti sauce all over your fingers…and then when you're done you get to lick it all off." Baby Spice explained.

"That is so gross and so weird, man," Eezo said.

"No it's not," Baby Spice scoffed.

"Uh, yeah it really, really is," Eezo said.

"Shhhhh." Baby Spice said.

She placed a sauce coated finger over his lips. Then she patted the star on his cheek with her vodka sauce drenched hand, getting plenty of vodka sauce on his face. Eezo scowled and grabbed napkin. He wiped himself off.

"So, what. Is that what you do on dates?" Eezo asked mockingly.

"I'd rather just smoke spice on a date, man. Y'know, somethin' intimate for me my lover. Guys like that, you know. That's why the boys keep coming back and that's why I'm a player," Baby Spice said.

She made the gang sign of the Reds with her hands.

"You know, that gang sign works really well," Eezo said. "Because the vodka sauce makes your fingers red."

"Oh, shut up Shepard." Baby Spice said. "You're so condescending."

"I am not. Besides, using my real name is pretty condescending, isn't it? Isn't it _Angelica_?"

"Ew, don't call me that," Baby Spice said. "You're making me feel like a grandma."

After they had eaten, they made their way down Spooner street on hover boards and floated under the hot sun. It was another scorcher in the city of New Dallas. Some people shirked the sun, within the safety of their front porches. They sat and drank beer or slept or just watched the world go by. Some children played in their sprinkler systems or chased each other around the sidewalk.

New Dallas was a poor city. A booming shuttle industry brought prosperity to the city at first. Then, when the company that manufactured closed down the city went straight to hell. Now it was a jungle of slums overshadowing the strip of remaining prosperity in the section called East-Town. In this slum the Reds, Eezo and Baby Spice's gang, prospered considerably amidst the squalor. Their operations had become wide and varied in recent years and the gang had really begun to expand.

Eezo and Baby Spice made their way to Boom House. Boom House was a squatter's

commune where a hive of people who either refused or couldn't pay rent lived. It was a large blue house covered in graffiti and burn marks. A busted window hung in front of a ripped blanket. Baby Spice knocked on the front door with several hard bangs. After a few moments, the door opened and a young man covered in elaborate piercings and sporting a Mohawk answered.

"Hey, Mikey," Baby Spice said. "We're here for Digits. Is he here?"

"Yeah, yeah," Mikey answered. "One second, I'll be right back."

Soon Digits came out with his hover board. He was short, and blond haired. He had tattoos of tear drops on both his eyes and braces over his teeth. He wore a red hoodie and red pants covered in the logo of his favorite Urban Combat Championship team—the Edmonton Blood Dragons. He hugged both Eezo and Baby Spice and they went on their way to pick up their final companion.

As they glided along on their hoverboards they chatted to pass the time.

"So, I got myself a little job," Digits said

"You got, like, a real job?" Eezo asked.

"Yeah. It's nothing big or anything. It's a sales gig," Digits replied.

"Huh. But, when are you gonna have time for that?" Baby Spice asked.

"All the time," Digits answered. "I just need an ear piece to do it. It's one of those on the phone jobs. It's a real bummer 'cause the pay is by commissions only."

"That's rough," Baby Spice noted.

"Nah. I'm a pretty good pusher already. I should be fine," Digits said.

"Well I say it's a good idea," Baby Spice said. "Man, I could definitely use some extra credits."

"Why? So you can smoke more spice?" Digits asked knowingly.

"So I could do lots of things," Baby Spice said defensively. "Maybe I'll smoke a little more spice—what's it to you?"

"Absolutely nothing. I'm not your dealer, I'm not your doctor and I damn sure am not your father," Digits said. "Which is a huge relief, cause you're such a ho."

They finally stopped in front of a small hovel of a house. It was an old looking shack with chipped brown paint all over it. One window was severely cracked and the side of the house had been covered in red graffiti. Amongst many rude declarations was the tag name of Owl.

Digits knocked on the door with four hard pounds. After waiting a full minute for a response, he knocked again. Still, no one came to the door. Digits scowled and went to the side of the house. He fished a key from under a rock and used it to open the door.

"Owl?" Digits called. "Are you here?"

"Hey, Owl!" Eezo called. "He's probably still asleep."

"Owl sort of disappeared recently, hasn't he?" Baby Spice noted.

"Yeah, probably on one of his drug binges again," Eezo noted.

"That guy's really fuckin' renegade," Digits said.

"Why? I do drugs. Digits, you do drugs too," Baby Spice said.

"Nobody does drugs like Owl," Digits replied.

As they entered the house they heard the sound of a television blaring throughout the place. They moved through and called for Owl, receiving no response. They walked up the stairs towards Owl's room. Upon reaching the door they were greeted by the pungent smell of vomit. Digits opened the door and they found Owl lying on the floor. He was blue in the face and as dead. His face was screwed up in a horrifying expression. His eyes stared vacantly at the ceiling. There was vomit in his mouth as well as caked down the side of his face.

"No, God, NO. Oooh no," Baby Spice said with wide eyes.


	2. BIOTIC DUELS

"There's no way…is he…dead?" Digits said.

"Fuck!" Eezo cried. "Owl! What the fuck!"

The three of them ran over to Owl's body. Eezo checked it and then shook the body when he found it pulseless.

"Goddammit Owl!" Eezo cried.

"What was he doing? What was he putting in his body?" Baby Spice asked with her hand over her mouth.

Digits picked up a syringe and answered, "Athenadrine a.k.a. love sugar. It's like Hallix's badder, bolder, older sister. When people use it, it's called 'wiping out.'"

"Holy shit—athenadrine? That's too fuckin' much! I can't believe Owl got involved with that!" Baby Spice said.

"Yeah I'm a little surprised myself. He always seemed to be…in control." Digits said with fustration.

"Fuck. Where did he get this shit?" Eezo asked.

"Let's find out." Digits answered soberly.

The three of them walked away from the body and towards the refrigerator. Upon reaching it, Digits opened the freezer. He moved away the frozen vegetables and freeze pops until he found a reservoir of love sugar packets. He pulled one out and examined it.

"This little snowman? That's Ice's signature seal. She's from the Blues," Digits said.

"Of course, she's from the Blues," Baby Spice said. "That gang will do anything."

"The Blues would try to sell Superman kryptonite," Digits agreed. "And it looks like that's exactly what they did."

Baby Spice crossed her arms and agreed.

"How can you two be so calm?" Eezo asked. "He is dead. Owl is dead."

"We all deal with grief in different ways, Eezo," Baby Spice said.

"Come on, Shepard. You don't think we care?" Digits said.

"Overdosing is NOT RENEGADE!" Eezo cried.

"I know," Digits agreed soothingly.

"I can't—I should go." Eezo said.

"But Eezo we have to report to Red Reef," Baby Spice said.

He stormed off as Baby Spice and Digits called after him.

The Reds were an old gang. The gang had been the revolving faces of lost youths, troubled teens, and disgruntled adults for a little over half of a century. In the beginning, when they were known as the Red Tides, they found their sanctuary "Red Reef," in an abandoned prison.

The Black Wall prison was a for profit prison built by some overly rich venture capitalist. It was supposedly going to be a new prison which would attempt to rehabilitate prisoners with several alternative methods. On the surface it was a lot of tai-chi and cheap seafood attempting to change the world for the better. However, below the surface, prisoners were being experimented on by pharmaceutical companies inside of the prison. Once this scandal was brought to light, Black Wall was brought down by the government.

As the prison closed down crime continued. The Red Tides flocked to the prison as an oasis and base of operations. They went through their own little golden age of varren fighting, drug peddling, and gang fighting. They still called the prison Red Reef even when they became the Reds fifty years ago under the leadership of the gangster called Tiger.

In the prison yard's basketball court, adepts and vanguards were testing their abilities against each other while a captain coached them along. Eezo wandered through the chain fence to the court. He took his place by one of the biotics at the end. He stood next to a lanky boy named Slippy. Slippy asked him if he was getting any bitches and Eezo told Slippy that he wasn't in the mood. They watched two biotics as they battled.

One boy was pulling on the other with all his biotic concentration. His arms stretched outwards and glowed purple as he attempted to drag the other boy. The boy being dragged was using his biotic power to resist being pulled. The boy suddenly felt a rush of power and as he was being pulled he let forth a biotic blast that knocked the boy pulling him into the ground on the other side of the court.

"That's enough," Laser said.

Laser was the captain leading the exercise. She had long brown hair and a freckled face. Both of her ears and her nose were covered in piercings. She wore a red hoodie covered in a chilli pepper pattern with the sleeves cut off. Her arms were covered with tattoos, as was her neck and lower lip. She looked into the crowd of biotics and found Eezo.

She said, "Hey, Eezo, move your ass. Lookit you, showin' up whenever you want. What do you gotta say for yourself, little renegade? _Nothing?_ Tell you what, why don't you fight…Exit."

Eezo looked tiredly over to Exit. Exit had small black gauges in his nose and much larger ones in his ears. He was covered in tattoos from his neck to his face. He also was wearing black mascara on his eyes. His hair was black and spiky. He wore a red hoodie with an upside-down skull on it. Exit looked at Eezo and raised both eyebrows jokingly. He then laughed.

Exit said, "Shit, alright. I'm gonna hurt him, though, ma'am. Sorry, Eezo" He smiled coyly at Eezo, but looked at him as if he were idiot.

"For the record, I don't give a shit about you," Eezo said neutrally.

"Damn. Eezo's not afraid of aaaanything," Exit said sweetly.

"I'm gonna fuck you up, you walking gloryhole," Eezo warned.

"Alright, both of you, get on the court," Laser instructed.

Exit and Eezo both walked to the middle of the basketball court. They stood five feet apart and faced each other, waiting for the command to fight. Eezo looked at Exit. Exit was bathing in biotic energy. He was just showing off. Eezo and Exit both knew that Exit was two years older and much more experienced in biotics. Eezo had watched him power house unfortunate gangsters before. It was a grisly sight.

Laser whistled and the brawl began. Eezo leaped at Exit with two biotically charged fists. Exit stuck both of his hands out and the biotic energy flowing around him ran down his arms and formed a wall in front of him. The biotic wall caught both of Eezo's fists easily, jamming him in place. Eezo growled as he forced biotic energy into his fists.

He forced more energy into them as he tried to pierce Exit's wall. Exit responded by making the biotic wall stronger and stronger until he finally collapsed the wall into a biotic explosion. The energy pushed Eezo back fifteen feet but kept him on his feet.

He ran back towards Exit at full speed with another biotic fist. Exit watched him for a few seconds and then sent a bullet of biotic power at him from. The biotic energy hit Eezo right in the stomach and he doubled over in pain.

Eezo struggled to stand up as he held his stomach. Just as he did Exit walked backwards and sent three quick bursts of biotic energy out of his palm. The bolts of energy flew arcs around the court before colliding into Eezo. The first two knocked him over to his knees and the third knocked him down.

"It's too bad Eezo. You're really going down like a punk. Lemme ask you something, did you ever think you had a shot?" Exit asked. Telekenetic balls of energy floating around Exit in a circle as he watched.

Eezo stood up, staring at Exit the entire time.

"You talked some shit. What were you thinking little man?" Exit asked. "What possible advantage, or counter or strategy could you have? What was your trump? What do you have, kid?"

Eezo spat blood. "I got a really big chip on my shoulder."

Biotic energy staring flowing around Eezo. It collapsed around his body and formed a purple layer of shielding energy. Eezo bolted and ran straight for Exit. As this happened Exit stretched out his arms and sent forth a powerful biotic wind of energy to slow down Eezo.


	3. SATISFACTION

Eezo ran through without any trouble at first. However, the closer he got the more powerful Exit's biotic force became. As Eezo became within ten feet of Exit he was forced to move forward at a crawl of a pace. He inched forward through the intense biotic storm from within the safety of his barrier.

Finally he got so close to Exit that their faces were a foot apart. Eezo was reaching through the eye of the biotic storm with both hands for Exit's face. Finally he tore through the biotic storm and crashed into Exit knocking them both onto the ground. As they both rolled Exit pushed him across the court with a biotic blast. Eezo clutched onto the court with biotic energy sucking at the ground through his fingers. He slowed down to a stop and slowly stood up. He reignited his biotic barrier. He was at the end of the court and Exit was in the middle.

As Exit stood up Eezo bolted toward him at full speed. Exit created a radiating ball of warped biotic energy in his hand. He hurled at it Eezo like a baseball player and hit him in the stomach. Eezo crashed into the ground clutching his stomach. There was a burn hole in his shirt on the stomach area.

"My warp balls burn through barriers, little man," Exit said.

"Yeah, I could tell!" Eezo replied breathlessly.

"Lemme ask you something, Eezo," Exit said. "When you called me a gloryhole before, was that a gay thing? Do I…give off, like, gay vibes, maybe?"

"No. I called you a gloryhole because you have so many gauges," Eezo said as he shakily stood up.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, that's clever," Exit agreed.

Exit formed another burning warp ball in his hand and with a winding pitch, hurled it at Eezo. Eezo dropped to his knees and the ball went flying over his head. Then Eezo stood up and started running to close the distance with Exit. Exit formed two warp balls and sent them both at Eezo.

Eezo ran forward and as the balls closed in he leaped forward in the air. Biotic and energy pulsated around him and he surged a few feet forward leaving the warp balls to crash into each other behind him. _Did I just warp?_ He wondered for only a moment.

He landed on his feet and was six feet from Exit. As Exit tried to form another warp ball Eezo biotically kicked him square in the nuts. Exit's biotic ball collapsed and he flew upward in the air fourteen feet. As he flew back downwards Eezo biotically punched him back, and Exit flew back into the fence at the end of the basketball court. He fell to the ground and didn't get up.

"Holy shit. Looks like you win Eezo," Laser said. "I'm calling the fight."

Eezo turned around with his thumb up in the air. "I'm Eezo Shepard and this is my favorite ass kicking from here to the citadel."

Eezo walked away from the court and towards Laser.

"Am I done?" he asked.

"Yeah, little guy. Nice warp out there."

"Yeah," Eezo said. "It was so easy it was like I didn't even know I did it."

"You didn't know you did it?" she asked.

"I mean, you know, I did. But, it's like I didn't or something."

"Wild." Laser said. "That's wild. That was some _renegade_ shit, son."

"I guess so," Shepard said. "I appreciate it. But, I should go."

He turned around and with that left the court. He tucked his hands into his jacket and walked through the Red Reef complex. He got lost in the crowd of gangsters thinking about Owl and his untimely death. He thought a lot about athenadrine and how good it must be. He decided to stay away from it permanently. He saw Baby Spice turn the corner. She waved at him and came towards him.

"How much loot money do you think Owl was spending on athenadrine?" Eezo asked her as she walked up.

"You saw his stash, brother. It was pretty fuckin' big—that's gotta cost something," Baby Spice said.

"I can't believe he'd do something like that. I'm not trying to be judgmental but…I mean, we don't save any loot money, but we don't buy poison, either," Eezo said.

"Hey everybody picks their poison," Baby Spice said. "Speaking of which, I picked a good poison for us. Something to pick us up since Owl's gone and all."

"Okay, so, do you mean like shots or ecstasy?" he asked.

"I'm talking about spice, man," she said.

"Shit. Why not," Eezo agreed.

Eezo left Red Reef with Baby Spice, walking behind her and feeling like she was his older sister. The promise of drugs and her company was the only thing keeping him together. He realized how seriously he needed a friend at the moment. He looked at her walking in front of him, but he looked too long and she looked back.

"What?" Baby Spice asked.

"Owl was the funniest guy I knew."

"Yeah, he really was. That kid was a riot, right?" She said.

"Yeah," Eezo agreed. "I hope god thinks he's funny."

"He probably wouldn't like the cocaine addicted Amish guy jokes," Baby Spice noted. " _Fuck, I gotta build another deck!"_

"Hm. Well, God better like it—I mean, he took him, didn't he?" Eezo grumbled.

"Oh, Eezo. Dude, stop thinking about God. You're too serious, man. You need the spice, baby."

Later, they arrived at Baby Spice's shack. It was in the absolute worst part of the city and you could tell as soon you arrived. The air smelled heavily of marijuana pretty much wherever you went. The houses were crumbling and in complete destitute conditions. A bag from Vorlack's kitchen rolled across the street. Vorlack was an industrious Vorcha whose short but unusual life resulted in some of the cheapest fast food in the galaxy. Some rumors said Vorlack was the only Vorcha to ever die of heart disease.

They got off their hoverboards and entered the house. Baby Spice warned him that her roommate might still be awake. She also mentioned her roommate might be dead too. The woman was on a lot of risky shit. Baby Spice patted herself on the back audibly for mostly just doing spice and drinking.

"Are you hungry?" Baby Spice asked as she searched through the refrigerator.

"I guess. What's in the fridge?" Eezo asked.

"Um…" Baby Spice searched. "It's mostly soda and…old chips…uh…whaaaaat?"

"What?" Eezo asked.

"There's some fucking crack in here."

"Like crack cocaine?"

"CRACK COCAINE, Eezo!" She yelled.

"Why is it in the fridge?"

"I don't know Eezo, I don't do crack. Maybe that's where you keep it?" She wondered.

"Nah…I feel like I would've heard about that in a rap song by now. I think your roommate just scrambled her brains or something," Eezo said.

"Probably. Sophie's so fucking crazy," Baby Spice noted. "I can't believe she's doing crack. You know, she's gonna be dead on the _street_ one of these days…Oh shit, Lasagna!"

She pulled out a tray of lasagna to show Eezo. It was only half eaten.

"You know how to make lasagna?" Eezo asked.

Baby Spice laughed, "No! I don't even own an oven. It must be that crazy bitch's boyfriend. Sophie has a 'boyfriend.' I mean, I think he's her pimp but I don't know how to politely ask that to someone."

"That's a pretty good point," Eezo agreed. "I'm sure your crackhead roommate has a real job, though."

Baby Spice smelled the lasagna. "God I hope she didn't put drugs in this. You want some?"

"No, thanks. Naot really in the mood for lasagna," Eezo replied.

"Not in the mood for lasagna?" Baby Spice gasped. "Whatever, man. I was actually looking at this and thinking about how I could totally destroy this entire thing by myself. Ugh! Tell you what though…I _was_ saving some ice cream that I was gonna eat this weekend but…fuck, you can have it."

"Who the fuck saves ice cream?" Eezo asked.

"Do you want the ice cream or not, Shepard?" Baby Spice asked with joking derision.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hit me up."

They ate and watched the Galaxy of Fantasy Spirit day special. Baby Spice had thrifted the film a few days ago. More accurately, she stole it from a thrift store. The film was a few years old but Baby Spice still had never seen it. As they watched a male and a female turian battled what looked somewhat like a giant crocodile whilst riding on something that looked like a giant golden spider. The crocodile killed the spider and the turians fell off. All looked lost but suddenly the brother of the male turian came back with a battalion of mages to fend off the crocodile so the male character could stab the crocodile in the eye.

"Brother, I thought you had fallen to darkness!"

"I forgot the meaning of Spirit day once Lorik, but never again. The spirit that watches over our brotherhood means more to me than all of the power in the universe."

"Then you _do_ have all the power in the universe," Baby Spice whispered with tears in her eyes.

They finished the movie and watched the credits roll to the song "Heavy Cargo" by a turian band called 'Metal Mouth.' Baby Spice got up from the couch and shuffled back to her room. She came out a few minutes later with a pipe full of spice and a lighter.

"Hey, Eezo. Eezo. Eezo? Are you asleep?" She asked.

Eezo didn't respond and quietly snored.

"Alright. Goodnight, Shepard." She said.

She put the pipe to her lips and lit it.


End file.
